:''For the former US soccer league of the same name see
A-League (American)''
The 'A-League' is the premier Australian domestic
football (soccer) competition. Founded in 2004 and staging its
inaugural season in 2005-06, the league is contested by seven teams covering Australia's major cities and regional centres, as well as one representing
New Zealand.
[1] The team which finishes on top of the league table at the end of the 21-round regular season is awarded the Premiership, with the winner of the subsequent four-team finals series awarded the Championship.
Melbourne Victory FC are the current A-League Premiers (Season 2006-07) and are also the reigning Champions.
An
AU$3 million dollar advertising campaign was also launched, with the television and film advertisements produced by
Ridley Scott's production company. The theme for the campaign was: "Football, but not as you know it".
A new campaign has been created for the 07/08 season, which debuted on Foxtel's program, Total Football. It was filmed at Bob Jane Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria. The theme of the current campaign is "90 minutes, 90 emotions".
The A-League will feature for the first time in a video game in
FIFA 08.
[2]
History
In 2003,
a report on football in Australia was published by the
Australian Federal Government which ultimately led to an overhaul of
Soccer Australia and the end of the
National Soccer League, Australia's previous domestic football competition. In its place,
Football Federation Australia (named the Australian Soccer Association at the time) announced plans for a new national competition set to start in 2005. The competition was based on a one-city, one-club format. This was for two reasons - to concentrate player talent, and possibly more importantly, break the connection between clubs and specific immigrant groups (the previous NSL had a number of teams whose players and fans largely came from one specific immigrant community). The plan called for privately owned clubs to represent
Sydney,
Melbourne,
Perth,
Brisbane,
Adelaide,
Newcastle and
New Zealand, with the eighth and final club to be selected from the remaining expressions of interest.
[3] The selection of teams, with
The Central Coast the eighth area represented, was announced on
November 1 2004, along with the competition format which was shortened to provide a basic structure for further expansion. The FFA scheduled the inaugural season to begin in August 2005, budgeting for an annual turnover of
AU$50 million and average crowds of 10,000.
[4]
2005-06 season
Main articles: A-League 2005-06
The opening season saw clubs attract a wide array of talent, most notably
Dwight Yorke for
Sydney FC, as well as bringing a large number of former and current
Socceroos home, including
Ned Zelic,
Steve Corica and
Archie Thompson.
Adelaide United FC won the inaugural A-League Premiership after the end of the home-and-away season. The Grand Final was played in front of 41,689 people at
Aussie Stadium. Sydney FC prevailed 1-0 over the
Central Coast Mariners to become the first A-League Champions. The FFA's target crowd figure of 10,000 was achieved as the league had an overall attendance average of 12,100 during its inaugural season.
[5]
An AU$120 million deal between the FFA and
Fox Sports was reached in 2006 after the end of the first season. Under the deal, Fox Sports will have exclusive rights from 2007 to all
''Socceroos'' home internationals, all A-League and
Asian Cup fixtures,
World Cup qualifiers through the AFC, and all
AFC Champions League matches. The deal will allow the FFA to increase the amount of TV money to each of the participating clubs in the league and increase the revenue streams for those clubs.
[6]
2006-07 season
The creation of the A-League has allowed for many past and present Socceroos players to return and play on home soil. So far the A-League's second season has seen the return of such current
Australian international players as
Stan Lazaridis,
Tony Vidmar and
Joel Griffiths which has boosted the media attention of the league. The FFA is also toying with the idea of sharing the expense of some of the wages of Socceroos players to bring them back to Australia.
[7]
The all time Australian domestic football (soccer) regular season crowd record was smashed on
December 8,
2006 when Melbourne Victory hosted Sydney FC at the
Telstra Dome. The crowd was 50,333 beating the previous record of 39,000 - set when the two clubs met at the same venue previously in the season.
Kevin Muscat, the Melbourne captain, was quoted as saying: "You'd do well to find an Australian abroad this weekend who'll play in front of a bigger crowd than that".
In December 2006 the had their licence revoked because of mounting debts.
New Zealand Soccer was allocated control of the team for the remainder of the season. The FFA called for bids from prospective operators to take over the New Zealand license for the next season.
[8]
On
February 18,
2007 defeated 6-0 to become champions of the A-League 2006-07 season in front of a crowd of over 55,000 people.
Archie Thompson was awarded the
Joe Marston Medal, scoring five goals for Melbourne Victory.
Recently Chairman
Geoff Lord has suggested the inclusion of overseas clubs in the pre-season cup competition, particularly targeting teams from Asia and the west coast of the United States.
[9]
2007-08 season
Important signings before the start of the third season of the A-League have seen former socceroos
Danny Tiatto,
Craig Moore,
Ljubo Milicevic,
Nick Rizzo,
Paul Agostino,
Hayden Foxe and
Tony Popovic return to Australia with , ,, , and respectively.
Socceroos' striker
Sasho Petrovski has left
Sydney FC in favour of the , where he is expected to form a deadly partnership with fit-again
Nik Mrdja.
The A-League
salary cap has spawned much controversy in the close season with champions Melbourne Victory unable to re-sign star midfielder
Fred due to an offer from
Major League Soccer club
D.C. United that is reportedly worth three times the amount the Victory can afford to pay him. As well as this, Sydney FC have been unsuccessful in signing ex-
Liverpool FC striker, Robbie Fowler because the club could not offer as much money as other English clubs.
[10]
On
March 19 2007, it was confirmed that a bid from
Wellington, New Zealand, later to be announced as , would be replacing the for the 2007-08 season.
[11][12] FFA granted
New Zealand Football a three year license to stay in the competition in partnership with a Wellington-based consortium.
[13]
It is also confirmed that squad sizes will be increased from 20 players to 23 players.
[14]
Format
Pre-Season Cup
A Pre-Season Cup is held in July and August, as a precursor to the main season. In the Pre-Season Cup, the eight teams are placed into two groups. Each team plays the others in the group once over three rounds.
Beginning in 2006, an additional bonus round is then held, with each team playing a cross-over match with a team from a different group. In addition to the standard points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw), there are special bonus points on offer for the bonus round matches:
★ 1 bonus point for 2 goals scored by a team,
★ 2 bonus points for 3 goals scored by a team, or
★ 3 bonus points for 4 or more goals scored by a team.
[15]
All eight teams then enter a knock-out round, culminating in the final in late August.
The
FFA has indicated that, if successful, the bonus points system may be used in the main league season from
the 2007-08 season.
[16]
Regular season
The regular season runs mainly during the Australian summer, from late August to January of the following year. The competition consists of 21 home-and-away rounds, with each team playing each other team three times – twice at one team's home stadium and once at the other's. The teams which are allotted two home matches against an opponent in one season are allotted one home match against that opponent in the following season. Each match sees the winning team awarded three competition points, or in the case of a
draw, the teams receive one point each. At the end of the season, the teams are ranked firstly in terms of competition points accumulated, then
goal difference, total goals scored, head-to-head records between tying teams and finally the number of
cards each team has received.
[17] The club at the top of this ladder is crowned A-League Premiers, and as of the
2006–07 season, will be entered into the
AFC Champions League.
[18]
Finals series
The top four-ranked teams at the end of the regular season are entered into a finals series based on the
Page playoff system, where the first round of matches consists of
two legs (with ties decided by the
away goals rule). The top two ranked teams play the Major Semi-Final, with the winner progressing straight to and hosting the Grand Final. On the same weekends, the third and fourth ranked teams contest the Minor Semi-Final, which sees the losing side eliminated whilst the winner plays off against the loser of the Major Semi-Final in the Preliminary Final the following weekend. The winner of this match also progresses to the Grand Final, the winner of which becomes A-League Champions. As of the
2006–07 season, this team will also contest the
AFC Champions League, although if the team that wins the Premiership goes through to Grand Final then the runners-up in the Grand Final are awarded the second spot in the competition, win or lose.
Logo
The A-League logo, designed by Coast Design Sydney, is a three-dimensional sphere in the shape of a
football. The two-toned ochre colours represent the
sun,
earth and
desert while the 'glow' emanating from the centre of the logo depicts the playing season's
Spring and
Summer time span. The eight 'A' figures that make up the ball shape represent the eight foundation clubs.
[19]
Clubs
Map of Australia and New Zealand.png
There are currently eight clubs from Australia and New-Zealand playing in the A-League. Only three of these clubs,
Adelaide United,
Newcastle United Jets (previously known just as Newcastle United) and
Perth Glory existed before the A-League was formed.
Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for
promotion and relegation of teams, nor a national knockout cup competition along the lines of the
FA Cup. The A-League system thus shares some
franchising elements with most other professional leagues in Australia, as well as
Major League Soccer and other major sports leagues in the
United States.
On
March 19 2007, it was confirmed that a Wellington based franchise would be replacing the for the
2007-08 season.
13 The name of was announced on
March 28.
For the 2007-08 season, the eight clubs will be:
| Team | City | Years in competition | Home Ground | Avg Crowd
2006-07 |
|---|
| '' | Adelaide, SA | 2005-06–present | Hindmarsh Stadium | 12,101 |
| '' | Gosford, NSW | 2005-06–present | Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium | 9,828 |
| '' | Melbourne, VIC | 2005-06–present | Telstra Dome | 33,288 |
| '' | Newcastle, NSW | 2005-06–present | EnergyAustralia Stadium | 11,442 |
| '' | Perth, WA | 2005-06–present | Members Equity Stadium | 7,671 |
| '' | Brisbane, QLD | 2005-06–present | Suncorp Stadium | 16,465 |
| '' | Sydney, NSW | 2005-06–present | Sydney Football Stadium | 14,999 |
| '' | Wellington, NZ | 2007-08 | Westpac Stadium | 14,421 (2007-08) |
| 'Former clubs:' |
| '' | Auckland, NZ | 2005-06–2006-07 | North Harbour Stadium | 3,016 |
Squad & salary cap
Each club can have a maximum squad of 23 players with a
salary cap of
AU$1.8 million for the whole squad - much less than the millions of dollars a year that individual star players (including a few Australians) earn in
Europe's top football leagues. The minimum number of players on each squad is 20. The squad must include at least three under-20 players. Clubs may also only have a maximum of four internationals (from outside Australia and New Zealand) in their squad.
[20]
Marquee player
In order to combat fears that the salary cap would reduce the capacity of the clubs to attract crowds through big-name players, the league allows each team to have one "marquee" player, whose salary is funded separately, and not included in the team's salary cap. The best-known example of a marquee player in the A-League was
Dwight Yorke who played for
Sydney FC in the inaugural season. Yorke had previously played several seasons for
Manchester United and
Aston Villa in the
English Premier League.
Expansion
While making a relatively modest start in order to ensure future stability, the league is interested in introducing more teams to the competition. The eight foundation clubs have exclusivity clauses for their respective cities valid for five years, but there is room to add more teams. With Australia's performance in the
2006 FIFA World Cup there has been some media speculation that
Football Federation Australia may expand the league after the 2007-08 season. This is looking very possible with upcoming changes to the number of Asian Champions League spots available from 2009.
Townsville and
Canberra are possibilities, having large populations and modern football stadiums, respectively
Dairy Farmers Stadium and
Canberra Stadium.
Wollongong and the
Gold Coast could also be considered, with Wollongong pushing for an upgrade to
WIN Stadium while the Gold Coast will have a new 25,000 seat stadium in 2008. Many people felt the twice Australian Champions
Wollongong Wolves should be the team from the Illawarra, but according to media reports the Wolves are planning on staying in the
NSW Premier League, and are fully supporting a new club for the region. This club will be backed by Bruce Gordon, Australia's 14th richest person.
[21]
Before the introduction of the A-League, ASA chairman
Frank Lowy speculated that he hoped to expand the league into additional areas, mentioning Canberra,
Hobart, Wollongong and
Far North Queensland.
[22][23] On
August 10, John O'Neill was talking up the support football would enjoy in Townsville.
[24]
A representative of
Capital Football has been quoted as saying "''Canberra,
Geelong, Wollongong and Townsville were "on the radar" to join the comp for the 2008/09 season.''"
[25]
After pulling out of a bid to replace the defunct New Zealand Knights, Townsville are in pole position to be the first club introduced into the league upon its expansion in the near future.
[13]
Stadiums
★ denotes oval-shaped stadiums
Champions and premiers
Main articles: List of A-League champions
The "Premier" is the team at the top of the league table at the end of the regular season although the common term for this type of competition in Australia is "minor premier". Media reports sometimes erroneously refer to the Premiers as minor premier. The "Champion" is the team that wins the
Grand Final.
[27]
| Season | Pre-season cup | Regular season | Grand Final |
|---|
| Premiers | Runners-up | Champions | Runners-up |
|---|---|
| 2005-06 | | '' | | '' | |
| 2006-07 | | '' | | '' | |
| 2007-08 | | - | - | - | - |
See also the
list of champions from 1977 to 2004 in the previous National Soccer League competition.
AFC Champions League
Two A-League clubs will participate in the
AFC Champions League competition
[28] from the 2007 competition on. The teams for the 2007 competition were determined by finishing positions in the 2005-6 A-League season, the 2008 competition by finishing positions in the 2006-7 season, and so on.
The Champions and Premiers qualify for the cup. In the case where the same team is Champion and Premier, the losing grand finalist qualifies.
| Season | | |
|---|
| '2007' | Sydney FC | Adelaide United |
| '2008' | Melbourne Victory | Adelaide United |
Top scorers
All-time
''See Also:
A-League all-time records''
Notable Past players
Current foreign players in the league
Awards
Johnny Warren Medal
The
Johnny Warren Medal, named after the late former Socceroo and media advocate
Johnny Warren, is presented to the player who is deemed to be the best player overall at the end of the season as judged by his fellow players. Each player in the A-League votes three times over the season: after Round 7, Round 14 and Round 21. Players are not allowed to vote for other players on their own team.
Rising Star Award
The Rising Star Award is awarded to a youth (under 20) player judged by a panel of experts to be the best young performer throughout the season.
Reebok Golden Boot
The Reebok Golden Boot is presented to the player who scores the most goals during the season. Only regular Hyundai A-League matches between Round 1 and Round 21 are included.
Coach of the Year Award
Fair Play Award
The Fair Play Award will go to the team with the lowest points on the fair play ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season (Yellow Card = 1 point, Direct Red Card = 3 points, 2nd Caution Red Card = 2 points).
Zurich Referee of the Year
TV Coverage
The Hyundai A League, being a new league, hasn't got the TV coverage that the
Premier League has for instance. However, it is rapidly growing and can be seen in some countries:
★ AUS -
Foxtel (Live coverage & Highlights)
★ NZ -
Sky Sports NZ (Live coverage & Highlights)
★ USA -
Fox Soccer Channel (Highlights)
★ Can.- Fox Soccer Channel (Highlights)
★ UK -
Sky Sports (Highlights)
Rivalries
Although there are no
local derbies, due to the league's one-city one-team policy, many rivalries have formed between A-League sides:
★ '' v '': Considered by many as the greatest rivalry in the league. Much like the Queensland/Sydney rivalry, the historical
Australian rules football rivalry between the cities has passed into a general sporting and cultural rivalry. Contested the 2006-07 A-League Grand Final, in which Melbourne convincingly won 6-0.
★ '' v '': The clash between the two most successful teams in the A-League's inaugural year (Adelaide the Premiership and Sydney the eventual winners).The finals series between the two teams was explosive and led to the establishment of a rivalry between the clubs.
★ '' v '': The clash between Australia's two biggest cities. Sydney and Melbourne have been historical rivals for over a century, and their football teams are no exception. The rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory has become arguably the most bitter in the A League, with almost every match between the two teams characterised by spiteful confrontations, controversy and consistently record-breaking crowds. There is also an intense rivalry emerging between the supporters of the clubs.
★ '' v '': Labelled the "F3 Derby" by commentators,
[29] the two regional clubs, only an hour apart, are also big rivals. Due to their close geographic proximity, the Mariners/Jets rivalry is identified as the closest thing to a true 'local derby' that the league offers.
★ '' v '': Sydney had never beaten their intra-state rivals until
January 1 2007. The rivalry between these teams was originally mild, with most Newcastle supporters more concerned with the Central Coast and most Sydney supporters more concerned with Melbourne. However, the on-field rivalry reached explosive levels in the 2006-2007 Minor Semi-Final.
[30]
★ '' v '': Although not the most intense rivalry in the competition, there is still a history that adds an element of importance for the fans in this fixture. beat the in the inaugural A-League grand final in 2005. Due to this it is considered by the fans as the grudge match of the A-League. The supporters (the marinators) take great pride in beating , and Sydney supporters (the cove) take great pleasure in reminding them of the score in the final.
★ '' v '': Though not a very big rivalry in the A-League, these two teams have a long history of draws and drew with each other in their first five clashes in the A-League until finally broke through with a 3-2 win at
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium in
Round 17 of the
A-League 2006-07 season.
References
1. FFA Statement Regarding New Zealand Knights
2. Hyundai A-League To Feature in FIFA 08 Video Game
3. ASA announce several significant initiatives
4. Australian Soccer announces the Hyundai A-League
5. Facts and Figures
6. Historic deal to secure Football's future
7. Plan to bring back Socceroos
8. Tough trip for Waitt's lineup
9. Victory chairman wants Asia, US teams in pre-season Michael Lynch
10. [1]
11.
NZ franchise for A-League.
12. NZ Phoenix to rise in A League
13. Kiwis alive as Townsville pulls pin
14. The time is right to go into the ref's book
15. Pre-Season Cup to go Regional
16. New and old for Kossie (see Matt Carroll interview section)
17. Hyundai A-League > Rules
18. Grand Final rematch to open HAL season
19. Logo signals refreshing new era
20. A-League salary cap to rise
21. Win-win situation to get Wollongong into A-League Michael Cockerill
22. ASA announce several significant initiatives
23. A-League launch speech by FFA chairman Mr Frank Lowy AC
24. Chief talks up Townsville Paul Osbourne
25. Canberra chief: 4 new teams on A-League radar (Google cache)
26. Kiwis alive as Townsville pulls pin
27. Australia's finest designers in trophy challenge
28. Australia received two spots in AFC Champions League
29. Fans steamed up for derby - if they get there
30. Jets down Sydney FC in night of spite
External links
★
A-League official website
★
Football Federation Australia
★
SBS The World Game A-League section
★
FOX Sports Australia A-League section
★
A-League television commercial
★
A-League draw 2007/08
★
Map of A-League club locations
★
A-League obsessed
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